


A Thousand Fragile and Unprovable Things

by iaminarage



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Total Fluff, this fic is unappologetically soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 03:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11454813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iaminarage/pseuds/iaminarage
Summary: Dex knows Nursey well enough to see right through him during Cards Against Humanity. And apparently when it comes to other things as well.





	A Thousand Fragile and Unprovable Things

**Author's Note:**

> The fic title comes from Mary Oliver's ["Coming Home"](http://www.dotwebb.com/drdot/cominghome_oliver.html). Because it's Nursey after all. 
> 
> Thank you so much to Januarium and Scout451 for the beta and for cheerleading my NurseyDex love!

“ _Coming to Broadway this season, _______________: The Musical_ ” Nursey said, reading off the black Cards Against Humanity card. Then he flipped the white cards and began to read the options he’d been given. “ _White Privilege the Musical_ ,” Nursey read, and then laughed. “Is that a revival? Okay, _My Sex Life the Musical_ … well, at least there would be a lot of material. _Crushing Self Doubt the Musical_ ,” came next. “Oh man, same. _Same Sex Ice Dancing the Musical_ ,” Nursey read. “But how would they get the skaters on stage?”

“Bro, clearly that’s the fun of of it!” Tango said.

“ _The Homosexual Agenda the Musical_. I’m sensing a theme, gentlemen.” Nursey caught Tango and Whiskey sharing a glance, making it easy to tell who had played those cards.

“ _Sexting the Musica_ l,” Nursey read. “Is that a musical about Bitty?” Everyone laughed while Bitty gave Nursey his best judgemental glare. “And the last one, _Waking Up Half Naked in a Denny’s Parking Lot: The Musical_. Well, that’s pretty hashtag relatable.”

“Okay, which do I choose… It’s got to be Crushing Self Doubt the Musical.”

“Yes!” Dex said, fist pumping and reaching out from next to Nursey to grab the black card. “Four for four!”

“Seriously, how are you doing that?” Nursey asked, shaking his head. Every single time he’d been the one to pick, he’d managed to somehow pick Dex’s card.

Dex grinned that obnoxious grin of his. “D-man powers?” he suggested.

Nursey sighed and took a sip of his beer as he waited for Bitty to throw down the next card.

After another hour, Dex had managed to win the game. He’d taken another card from Nursey and one each from Ford and Chowder.

After the game was boxed up, Whiskey and Tango had started chanting for a movie, while Dex had gone to the kitchen to grab another beer, and Nursey relocated himself to the corner of the couch before anyone else thought to grab it.

By the time Dex got back, Chowder had grabbed the other end of the couch with Farmer settled on his lap, while Bitty, who still refused to sit on the awful old green thing, was sharing a giant arm chair with Ford. Whiskey and Tango had stolen a blanket and some pillows and taken the floor.

“What are we watching?” Dex asked as he plopped into the middle seat on the couch and handed beers to all three of his friends.

“You light up my life,” Nursey said, giving him a fond smile and taking a swig of his beer.

Dex blushed in that pretty all-over pink way he had, and Nursey felt himself blush a bit himself as he found himself on the receiving end of one of Dex’s rare, unguarded smiles.

“Guardians of the Galaxy II,” Whiskey replied, looking like the cat who got the cream. Tango had been pulling for Rogue One, but Bitty and Ford had sided with Whiskey and requested something fun.

Derek really didn’t mind either way. He loved both movies, and honestly, he was happy as long as he was with his teammates. He loved kegsters, of course, but just sitting around with his friends was the most fun. It felt like home in a way that Nursey hadn’t felt in years. Andover had never really been that comfortable to Nursey. He’d always felt that he had something to prove, with the jokes about affirmative action that always got lobbied his way under the guise of friendly banter. And his parents’ house was empty more often than not, with both of them committed to their careers. But spending a Friday night drinking in the Haus with his friends was the best feeling.

As the movie started up, Nursey reached over the back of the couch to grab one of the many blankets all over their living room. He draped it over his lap and handed another one to Dex.

To his surprise, Dex shifted a bit closer to him as he took the blanket, pressing his leg up against Nursey’s.

Dex had gotten a lot more tactile with Nursey over the last few months, and Nursey honestly wasn’t sure what to make of it. He knew what he desperately wanted it to mean, but he didn’t want to break the fragile peace they’d found since moving into Lardo’s old room.

After about the third time he knocked his elbow into Dex’s, he gave up and draped his arm across the back of the couch. He avoided actually wrapping an arm around Dex, but the gesture still felt a bit intimate.

As he settled in, Farmer caught his eye, glanced at his arm, and raised her eyebrows. Nursey shook his head to indicate that there was nothing going on, and Farmer rolled her eyes, looking exasperated. Ever since Dex had come out as bi at the beginning of this school year, Farmer had been telling him to make a move, but Nursey knew there were miles of difference between Dex liking boys and Dex liking _him_. And he didn’t want to risk making Dex uncomfortable.

By the time the movie ended, Dex had fallen asleep on Nursey’s shoulder. Nursey was hardly surprised. Dex had been up very late last night working on a program. Nursey had woken up to go to the bathroom at 3:30 in the morning and Dex had been swearing quietly at his computer. Nursey had no idea when he’d actually finished his work.

The rest of his friends dragged themselves up out of their comfy spots as the credits rolled. Tango, Whiskey, and Ford headed for the door so the two of them could walk her home. Farmer dragged a barely awake Chowder off the couch and pulled him towards the stairs. Bitty disappeared into the kitchen to put a few things away. Nursey was left alone with his sleeping roommate.

Nursey sighed and shook Dex’s shoulder. “Come on, Dexy, you know I can’t carry you up the stairs.”

Dex blinked his eyes open slowly, and gave Nursey a strange, wondering look, before shaking his head and blinking a few times as if he was letting reality settle back into its place.

“What kind of d-man partner are you anyways,” Dex said with a grumble.

“Weak,” Nursey replied. “Very weak.” Then he stood up and grabbed Dex’s hand to pull him to his feet.

Nursey expected Dex to drop his hand once he was standing, but he held on tight, looking at Nursey expectantly. Apparently Nursey was going to have to drag him to bed.

When they finally got up to their room, Nursey had to manhandle a still very sleepy Dex into bed. He wondered if Dex would have fallen asleep halfway up the stairs if Nursey hadn’t been dragging him. As soon as he pulled the covers over Dex, Dex’s eyes dropped closed.

Nursey was half way across the room when he heard Dex’s voice, soft and a little afraid. “Derek?” he said.

“Yeah, Will?” Nursey replied, taking a few steps back towards him. Dex never used his first name.

“Are you ever going to kiss me?”

Nursey’s eyes dropped closed for a second as he tried to process the question. He couldn’t believe Dex had really asked that, and he wasn’t even totally sure he understood what it meant. Dex was barely coherent, and he didn’t think now was the time to have this conversation.

Nursey walked back to Dex and brushed his red hair back from his face. Dex’s hair was silky smooth under his fingers. “Not tonight,” he said with a soft smile. “But ask me again tomorrow, and I’ll kiss you anytime you want.”

Dex nodded, and let his eyes drop closed again. Nursey stayed for a moment, just letting his eyes wander over Dex’s face before he pulled away and headed for the bathroom.

Once he was alone under the harsh overhead light, he dropped onto the edge of the tub heavily. Had Dex really asked him that? Did he really mean what it sounded like he meant? Did Dex actually want him? Or was he asking something else that Nursey didn’t understand? And what if he never asked again?

Nursey shoved those questions to the back of his mind as he brushed his teeth, and then crawled into the twin bed across the room from Dex’s. Thankfully, Dex’s quiet breathing was soothing and Nursey was tired enough that his worries couldn’t keep him awake.

* * *

 

By the time Nursey woke up around 10am, Dex was already up and gone. Nursey shuffled down to the kitchen in his pajamas and found Bitty pulling out the ingredients for waffles.

The kitchen smelled heavenly already from the fresh pot of the hazelnut brew, Dex’s favorite, waiting in the coffee maker. Nursey pulled down a mug and filled it with coffee, leaving plenty of room for cream and sugar.

“Have you seen Dex?” he asked Bitty.

“Reading room, I think,” Bitty replied, cracking an egg into a small bowl.

Nursey nodded and pulled out a second mug, filling it with coffee and just a splash of half and half. He didn’t even bother to ask Bitty if he could help before heading upstairs. He’d been banned from assisting in the kitchen ever since he’d nearly dropped a finished pie on the way to the oven.

Dex was exactly where Bitty said he would be. He was sitting on the roof in sweatpants and a hoodie with his legs crossed, leaning back on his hands, with his face tilted up towards the sun. The cup of coffee next to him was already empty.

Nursey scrambled out onto the roof, making sure to set the cups down carefully and not to hit them on the way out, before scooting down next to Dex. Wordlessly, he handed over the coffee and Dex sat up to drink it.

They sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes, both lost in their own worlds. Finally Dex set down his coffee cup.

“I was so mad when Lardo said she might give you her dibs,” Dex said, breaking the silence in a completely unexpected way. “It’s not that I don’t get how much you helped her, but I’ve been keeping this house running for two years. And it wasn’t just you who got dibs before me. But Olly and Wicks, too?”

Nursey had no idea where Dex was going with this, but he had a feeling he needed to shut up and let Dex make his point.

Dex pulled his knees back up and wrapped his arms around them protectively. “I have three older brothers and two younger sisters. I’m used to being forgotten. I just couldn’t believe I was the last pick, even here.”

Nursey’s heart clenched a little at Dex’s words. He’d known at the time how unfair it was. Dex had deserved to get dibs before any of them, except maybe Bitty. He’d wanted dibs, too, and he’d worked hard for them, but he hadn’t really expected it to be Dex who lost out.

“I’m sure this doesn’t help, but you’re my first pick,” Nursey said, scooting close enough to Dex that they were almost touching.

Nursey expected Dex to chirp him for the corny line, but instead, Dex just reached over and laced his fingers together with Nursey’s. Nursey felt Dex’s touch all the way up his arm, and for a second, he couldn’t breathe for hoping this was real.

“I’m pretty sure I thought I was cursed when the coin landed in that crack. But now I think maybe I was lucky,” Dex said, squeezing Nursey’s hand, his eyes still fixed on the trees in the distance. “I don’t know if I would ever really have let you in if I hadn’t been stuck in the same room as you.”

Nursey rubbed his thumb along the back of Dex’s hand. “I wasn’t exactly putting in an impressive effort, either. So maybe we both got lucky.”

Dex closed his eyes for a second then, as if stealing himself for something. Then he turned to face Nursey and reached out to cup his cheek. For a second, time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Dex leaned towards him. “Can I?” Dex whispered.

“Yes please,” Nursey replied, and then Dex was kissing him. Dex tasted like hazelnut coffee, and a bit like the Carmex Chapstick he was always carrying around, and Nursey felt like his skin was on fire everywhere they touched.

Dex kissed slowly and softly, like he wanted to savor every second of this kiss, and Nursey understood, because he did, too.

When Dex finally broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against Nursey’s for a moment, and said, “What do you think?”

Nursey smiled a slow smile and took Dex’s hand in his own. “I think you might be the last person I ever expected to fall for.”

“Me too,” Dex replied, dropping another quick kiss to Nursey’s lips. “The first time I thought you might like me, I figured I was imagining things. But I couldn’t shake it.”

Nursey laughed quietly. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice a long time ago. It’s been awhile since I realized why you drive me so crazy.”

“I’m not going to stop, you know,” Dex said with a grin.

“Counting on it,” Nursey replied.

He dropped back so that he was laying on the roof. For a second, Dex just smiled down at him, the sun shining behind his head and making him almost too bright to look at. It made Nursey feel shamelessly poetic, and he had a feeling he’d be writing some terribly cliche love poems this afternoon. For now, though, he just reached out to tug on Dex’s hand until Dex got the hint and lay down with him, curling around Nursey and resting his head on his chest. And Nursey wondered if he’d even be able to find the words to describe the warmth, and comfort, and joy he was feeling right then.


End file.
